On Sunday I ran the dirty German 50K. This is my second 50 K, my first was Labor Pains last summer on a hot and humid day on Labor Day weekend. A few weeks after that race I had some problems with my knee,  the specialist said my meniscus looks like Swiss cheese (I believe that runs in my family). So I took a few weeks off to heal that and slowly started to build miles again. Living in Central Pennsylvania it was a long cold winter, so I did some of my longer runs on the road (Actually I would run around Gettysburg battlefield, for some reason when it's 15° out not many people go there, so I felt like I had the whole place to myself). I looked back at my log I had six runs between 21 and 25 miles, I would try to have a medium long run each week and three days of easy running.

Going into the race I had the usual aches and pains, but my real concern was my left hamstring that started seizing up on my last couple long runs. I told my lovely girlfriend that we can go to Philadelphia for the weekend, I just have a little run to do on Sunday morning.

It rained a few inches two days before the race, but everything dried out nicely except for some mud puddles  in the first couple miles, just adds to the fun!

I was shocked when the race started almost on time! Off we went running into the woods, was about 50° with a slight breeze to start,  it was beautiful out. The first 5 miles of the trail go along a river and were not as smooth as I remembered, seems like  there's a lot of flood damage and washouts  since last year, but overall  still nice trails. Something different this year was a staggered start, with the 50 miler starting first, 50K a half hour later 25K A half-hour after that. It was nice as it wasn't crowded to start, but there wasn't always people to run with and so a lot of time I was by myself especially on the second lap. The other thing is the leaders of the 25K's went flying by and would pull me along so I was running faster than I wanted to, and I was constantly telling myself to slow down it's going to be a long day. There were aide stations every for 5 miles that were set up very well with a great selection, and great volunteers. About an hour into the race I noticed the back of my shorts were pretty moist,  man I must sweat like a pig. It turned out my hydration pack was leaking from the bottom, I kept stopping, taking the hose off and putting it back on but that wasn't the problem. I filled it up and five minutes later it was empty all running down the back of my shorts  , it was not very comfortable but I guess it kept me cool. Finished up the first 15 1/2 mile loop! I saw George (Wcrunner) at the finish line and chatted for a few minutes when I tried to fix my bladder, it took all my MacGyver skills but I did . I folded the seam over where it was leaking and taped it,and then I used the Ziploc bag I had my phone in, rerouted the hose and put the leaking bladder in the Ziploc bag and it worked! Said goodbye to George and was off the second lap feeling like a new man with a wet ass!  I've been running slow and taking walk breaks to try to hold off the hamstring problem, and it worked until about mile 18, and the angry hamstring was back. It wasn't the worst problem to have, I could run for about five minutes and then I don't have to walk for a few minutes, rinse and repeat the rest of the way. I was doing good with my food I think, I had  one gel and then some gummy bears or peanut butter and jelly's from the aide stations, was getting about 300 cal an hour ( i'm 6'2" and 230 pounds so I think that works well for me). The second lap I just kept leapfrogging people, I would pass the slower ones running and then they would catch up as I was walking, met  a lot of great friendly people out there, even ran with Jbyram for a while (he asked if that was my lucky yellow shirt!)! Its a great runnable course,my favorite part is toward the end, I call it the roller coaster section,a bunch a little up-and-down's in twisting, turning and curving all over, it's a blast to run!

Before I knew it I was back at the last creek crossing which is about a half-mile to go, damn the hamstring, I just floored it all the way in, last half-mile was 7:40 pace. I crossed the finish line in 6:28. I never really had any low spots and felt great the whole time. I felt strong at the end, I think without the hamstring problems I could've been about 5:30 or less. All in all it was a beautiful day to run some gorgeous trails in the middle of Philadelphia, I had a blast running and had an awesome weekend with the girlfriend, who was  even kind enough to drive home!

Great job, and glad you were able to fix your bladder! After I finished, George told me you had to fix a hole in your bladder and it took me a minute to realize he was talking about your HYDRATION bladder! Sorry to miss you, but glad you had a good run!

Thanks for the write up, Muppy!  I hope to get to the 25k next year and it's great to hear about the course firsthand.  I guess there's worse things than a wet ass,  but ood McGyvering on the bladder.

Hope you can make it, it's a great relatively flat course to run!

I'm sure it's not the first time a leaky bladder gave someone wet shorts. 

Sounds like fun, and congratulations.  Give me a call when you come to Gettysburg, I'll show you where the trails are.

Congrats Muppy.  Nice run, nice report.  The improv'd bladder fix was really a day saver for you...that's awesome.  Sorry the hamstring gave you trouble.  Thanks for the report!

Good job and nice McGuyver move!